1. Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to start your business?
I have never liked the idea of 9-5 corporate life and I had always wanted to work for myself. I was always interested in art since I was a kid. Coming from a family of engineers, I was pushed into engineering at the age of 17. My family thought that would be the safest career option for me. But soon after joining I have realized that that’s not what I wanted to do. I’m sure many of us have these thoughts from time to time at least to some extent, but most people will generally just continue doing the same thing because of the risks involved in entrepreneurship.
But I did not want to do that. Hence, I’ve decided to switch careers. I moved to Italy where I did my Graduation and Masters in Interior and Product design. I’ve started observing and learning new skills and was always looking for ways to do things quicker, smarter and ultimately cheaper, which would result in potential savings for my clients and in turn, giving me a chance to win on cost, quality and better service that will ultimately expand my client base. I’ve chose my passion started working on what I love. Architecture and Design is my passion and when you do what you love, you are always willing to go the extra mile and it will eventually start to pay off.
2.Can you share the biggest challenges that you had to overcome since you started this business?
The biggest challenges were the risks involved in starting the business from scratch and not having any experience in running a company. When I was an engineer I had a safe career option ahead of me. I could work for a corporate software company and get a fixed salary. When I told my friends and family members about my idea of switching careers, everyone thought I was doing a big mistake. Many advised me against it. I can say from personal experience that this was not easy, but I had to stay persistent and stay motivated. I had to keep working hard and the hurdles slowly became easier to overcome.
3. What advice would you have for other new entrepreneurs?
For me it all comes down to two things, ‘Persistence and belief’.
Many of us have dreams about being successful and many of us see either a better way of doing something, or a new opportunity in the market for a new product or service. But sadly for many, the idea stays in their head. This is mainly because they lack confidence in their abilities or others around them pour cold water on the idea and it quickly fades out. Some are too scared to take the risks and prefer to stay in their comfort zone.
Entrepreneurship is not easy. You will have many difficulties, missed opportunities and challenges. The key is to stay motivated and to have trust in your abilities. When you believe that you have the skills, put in the hard work and the results will start to show eventually. Choose your passion and follow it. Just when you feel like giving up, that’s when you have to put the effort and go an extra mile. Success will follow you. Also, keep building a strong network. Keep meeting as many people as you can and don’t shy away from asking help. You never know what opportunity will come knocking your door.
4. How do you think that your consultancy will make a huge difference in people’ life?
Many people in my country have been looking for contemporary and modern style of design. There’s huge demand for Italian style of architecture and design. I want to make it easy for all the customers to find the design style they like without having to go abroad and outsource it from other countries. It’ll save people a lot of time and money if they are looking for their homes to be designed in modern Italian style.
5. Can you share with us a personal story of an emotional struggle?
Finding work that pays was the most difficult thing in the beginning. I had to work for free on numerous occasions just to build a good portfolio. During that time, it was getting increasingly difficult to find extra funds to continue doing what I wanted to do. I took up a part-time job in a restaurant just to get that extra money and at the same time continued focusing on building my portfolio by working on various unpaid internships and jobs. Emotional strength during that time was very important and I knew I had to stay strong. I knew it was all temporary and if I continued believing in myself and putting the hard-work, I can get past this phase faster. I personally have spent many sleepless nights working extra hours to deliver the projects on time without compromising on the quality. It takes a toll on the body, mentally and physically. Even when I knew that I wouldn’t make any profit from the project, I still had to do it to build good client base and grow my contacts. I could only get though it by staying strong emotionally and kept doing what I do without caring much about the end result.
6. What are your future plans?
My plan is to expand my company locally and then all over my country. We will look to innovate by coming up with fresh ideas and design styles that will help to grow the company to get country level recognition and eventually expand worldwide. I want to make my clients happy and do the best possible work.
7. How can our readers follow you on social media?
They can follow me on Instagram @rajaabhishekreddy. They can get in touch with me via DM’s.